I'm definately in the open it and drink it category. Or, give it to someone who would like it. I only have 1 bottle that I won't open--at least until October 12, 2019--a Maker's Mark VIP that I had made up in honor of my daughter when she was born. She'll turn 21 on that day! God willing we'll share a sip then. Well a sip for her anyway. I'll have a little more, I'm sure.

I find this thread a justification for opening as many bottles as possible. Like many of you, I have bottles that may be irreplaceable -- but that's exactly why, as Ed suggests, it behooves me to try them. I'll never get the chance again. However, since the whiskey isn't going to go 'bad', if I have 20-30 (or, closer to 50, at present, after Bardstown) other bottles open, I'm going to taste a lot of other things while I'm also drinking that rare bottle. In other words, it's going to last a good while after opening, during which I'll still get to sit and stare at it if I choose. And, by all means, share it with someone who appreciates how special it is -- there just isn't a better way, or time, to drink it!
If that bottle's just to look at, I may as well just stick it on eBay now.

well I waited to weigh in on this. At the beginning of this thread I said I thought I may have an idea of what I would do.

I think I would let it sit for just a little while, and I do mean very little, Just to give it a look and to wait for en evening that seems right to pop the top. As Tim said I think I would try to make it last, I do that with most of my bottles because of trying different pours each night.

I definitely would someone else to try it that would appreciate it. And of course when finally empty the bottles would stay up in a prominent position for perusing.

That's what I thin I would do...now if I actually had some sitting in front of me....who knows!

Mark/Nebraska

Mark/Nebraska

Life is not measured by the number of breaths you take... but by the moments that take your breath away. 11/25/2004

I'd be in the "drink it with someone who'd appreciate it" camp, though it might sit on the shelf a while before it gets opened. Of course, the question is academic for me, since no BTEC bottles exist in my abode.

Then again, I have several difficult- or impossible-to-replace bottles, and all of them are eventually going to be opened and savored. Some of them have been distilled across the Atlantic , but there's a Saz 18, some WTRR 101, some ER 101, a Hazmat II, some Spring '05 Stagg, a gold-wax Hirsch 16...